Fluttershy made it to her cottage before nightfall. The animals all greeted her with pure passion, even Quinn.
She pulled out the food dishes for her animal friends and filled them up with her top notch animal food, only to have to bowl empty again in ten seconds. She scooped up Quinn in her arms and placed him on the counter to watch her prepare his dish. He actually looked interested in eating this time.
"Now Quinn." Fluttershy started, "this will be your dinner, okay?" She paused to watch him nod his head. A burst of excitement filled her body. He actually looked hungry this time.
She slowly prepared his meal. A nice crisp salad that contained carrots, celery, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Fluttershy was quite proud when she was done. She placed the dish on the floor with a big grin plastered on her face. "There! Dig in!"
She watched Quinn hop off the counter, sit in front of the dish, sniff the food and then look up at her. She continued to smile. "Dig in!"
He sniffed it again and then hopped off. Fluttershy's face drooped. Even her best meal wasn't good enough for him to eat. She quickly shook the thought away. Maybe he doesn't like salad either. But... what DOES he like then?
Fluttershy shrugged it off and tried not to worry about it. Yet, she couldn't help but worry over it. Quinn hadn't eaten anything since he arrived at the cottage. May he was ill and she just didn't notice the signs. Unless...
Fluttershy smiled widely and breathed out a sigh of relief. Maybe he has been eating but it was at times where I wasn't watching. She still wasn't sure but she didn't think further about it that night. She let out a tiny yawn, which in Fluttershy's standards was huge. She blinked away the water that formed in her eyes after the yawn and decided to go to sleep early. She had been staying up quite late compared to normal and she decided that she wanted to get back on track with her sleeping routine.
----
Fluttershy fluttered her eyes open as she felt her face warm up from the sun blazing through the window. She sighed and smiled. Today was going to be wonderful and she was going to just relax today.
She trotted over to the mirror in her bathroom and observed her wound. It seemed to be healing quite a bit. She took off the bandage and tossed it in the garbage bin. She smiled to herself in the mirror but squinted as the sun's rays reflected off the mirror and into her eyes. It was definitely a bright and sunny day today in Ponyville.
After feeding the animals breakfast and having Quinn not eat his as usual, Fluttershy headed out the door. She examined the door while her heartbeat increased. The door was wide open and had the corner split apart. The missing piece was nowhere to be found. Fluttershy shrieked and ran back inside her cottage.
"Animals! All of you please come here so I can make sure all of you are here!" She counted all of her animals carefully and almost passed out from the suspense. She even counted twice to make sure she didn't miscount. After finding out that all over her animals were there, safe and sound, she let out the large breath she had been holding the whole time. "Thank goodness..."
She then looked around the cottage. The place seemed perfectly neat and tidy. Fluttershy didn't know what happened to the door. Perhaps there was a wicked storm last night that she slept through. After all, she did go to sleep earlier than usual. She nodded, "that must be it." She then trotted outside with confidence. The sun was shining and she wasn't about to let her worries ruin this beautiful day.
----
"Everypony stay back!"
Huh? Fluttershy tried stretching out her neck to see what the crowd of ponies were up to. They were all crowding around in a circle near the fountain in Ponyville. Fluttershy flapped her wings slowly to hover herself above the crowd. Nurse Redheart was around as well as the Mayor and they were all telling all of the ponies to stay back. But, stay back from what?
Fluttershy landed on the ground again and tapped the pony's shoulder in front of her. "Um excuse me, so sorry to bother you but, what's going on?" The pony turned around with tears in her eyes. "A little filly was killed last night!" Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh! Who was it?" The mare took a moment to respond and whiped her eyes. "The filly was an earth pony and had a red mane that was tied with a big bow." At the mention of the bow, Fluttershy gasped and flew up passed the crowd to land right in between the cloth that were obviously hiding the body and Nurse Redheart. Applejack was there in pure tears, holding onto Twilight. Fluttershy's heart sunk at the sight. Apple Bloom was no longer living. But who would do such a thing? To kill a little innocent filly like that...
Twilight waved over for Fluttershy to come over. She could smell the blood seeping through the cloth and wouldn't dare see that state Apple Bloom was in.
"Oh thank goodness you're here Fluttershy!" Twilight started. She started leading Applejack over to Fluttershy's shoulder. "Take Applejack for me okay? I need to speak with the Mayor." Fluttershy simply nodded and held Applejack close. "It's okay Applejack. I'm sure she's-"
"That ain't what ah wanna hear right now!" Applejack blurted out. Fluttershy fell quiet and rubbed her back. She knew how Applejack felt. She hadn't want anyone speaking like that to her either when Angel had...passed. Apple Bloom is her only sister. It must be simply awful... She, herself, started to tear up at the thought. Applejack couldn't do anything but hold onto Fluttershy for her dear life and cry hysterically into her shoulder. Fluttershy just stood there with her tear streamed face and tried to sooth Applejack with her calming motives. Though, nothing was working.
Suddenly Fluttershy heard the Mayor's voice. "Please listen up everypony!"
The audience silenced down and focused their attention to the Mayor. Once she got all of the ponies' attention, she began her speech.
"By now you all know about the death of little Apple Bloom." She began. At the mention of her little sister's name, Applejack wept harder. The Mayor noticed but continued regardless. "But judging by the way she had passed away, Princess Celestia has been notified about something dangerous running around loose around Ponyville. We simply cannot be having that happen." The crowd gasped. "So, the new curfew is eleven o'clock. All ponies must be indoors before that time. This is to insure that nopony gets hurt."
Applejack lifted up her tear stained red face and started to scream at the Mayor. "That won't solve nothin'! Apple Bloom's curfew was eight o'clock and she was always in on time! That good for nothin' pony broke down the barn's door and took Apple Bloom from her bed! How is stayin' in gunna help? It ain't gunna help!" Fluttershy tried to settle Applejack down but she was on a rage path and wasn't about to let her guard down. The Mayor knew what a stressful and sad time this was for Applejack so she didn't give her a hard time. "I understand your concern. However I do believe that setting a proper curfew will help. On that note, all doors shall be locked as well. The Princess will have Royal Guards making sure this rule is followed. Keep in mind, it's not a punishment but merely for all of your safety." Applejack had heard enough and didn't lower her tone. "That pony broke down the door! Lockin' it ain't gunna help nothin'! All they gotta do is buck it down and they can do whatever it is they please!"
Fluttershy rubbed Applejack's back and whispered in her ear. "Shhhh...it's okay Applejack. We'll catch Angel and Apple Bloom's bad pony."
"Now all of you please enjoy the rest of the day and be in the house by eleven o'clock. Thank you." The Mayor walked away from the scene to let Nurse Redheart take care of Apple Bloom's body.
Twilight trotted over towards Fluttershy and Applejack with Zecora. "Girls! Put these on!" She tossed them both a strange looking necklace. Fluttershy studied it in her hooves. She saw the scary face on it and threw it away from her. "I can't wear that!" Twilight titled her head in confusion and picked the necklace back up. "But you have to wear it Fluttershy. Zecora said it will protect us from whatever dangerous creature is out there. It has a special medicine in it that the creature doesn't like."
"So it wasn't some darn pony?" Applejack asked. She had taken a few breathers and had just calmed down for the time being. However, tears kept filling her eyes up. "Just some worthless creature?" At the word of 'creature,' Applejack pointed at Fluttershy. "Ah swear to Celestia, if it was that dang Quinn of yours, ah will have him bucking apples for the rest of the year!"
Fluttershy looked scared. Quinn wouldn't do anything wrong. "Quinn has never done anything wrong! When Angel was attacking him, he never fought back. Not even once! He's innocent!"
"Ah simply do not believe that!" Applejack countered. Fluttershy felt trapped in a corner but to her safety, Twilight interrupted. "We can't go blaming innocent ponies, or creatures in this case. We have to wait it out. But it's okay Applejack, we'll find out who or what is doing this. But we cannot jump to conclusions."
Applejack sighed. "Ah am sorry Fluttershy. Ah am just not takin' this well."
Fluttershy smiled sweetly at Applejack. She knew it wasn't her fault. She was upset at Angel's death as well.
----
Night had fallen and Fluttershy couldn't get Apple Bloom's death off her mind. She had spent the day at Sugarcube Corner ordering out a special cake for Applejack. She had picked the biggest one they made and made sure it was her favourite flavour. Chocolate.
The rest of the day went by really slow otherwise. Fluttershy had gone inside before the new curfew and fed her animals. Quinn still wasn't interested in the meal she had served. After what Applejack had said about Quinn, Fluttershy became quite worried about him. She sat on the couch and watched him bounce on his tail while he watched the other animals play. It seemed as if the other animals didn't include him in their games. Fluttershy fluttered over to the animals. "Why don't you let Quinn play too?" The other animals seemed to put on fake smiles and nodded their heads, inviting Quinn over to the games. Fluttershy thought nothing of their odd behaviour and smiled at her work. Quinn didn't move though and continued to stare at the animals. Fluttershy gently nudged him. "Go play with them!" He looked completely uninterested and bounced off in a different direction.
That's really weird..why won't he play? Fluttershy tried to get him to play but he wouldn't no matter what she did. He just looked like he wanted to spend this time alone. Fluttershy respected that and stopped bugging him, even though she was still highly concerned. She tried to shake it off. He's probably just shy...like me.
Her coocoo clock started coocooing which meant it was time to sleep. Fluttershy fluttered all over the room and tucked all of her animals in. Quinn wasn't anywhere to be found. She searched for him all over the place and hoped he didn't go outside. She wanted to check but wasn't able to because of the curfew. She shrugged and sadly went upstairs to her bed. She opened her door to see Quinn sitting on her bed. He bounced on it gently and smiled at her.
"Quinn! What are you doing here?" She was super surprised to see him there. He merely bounced and smiled again but this time, let out a little squeak which to Fluttershy, sounded like a squeak of joy. She smiled as the warmth filled her heart. She sat down on the bed next to him and rubbed her hoof over his little soft head. "Applejack was wrong about you." She started. "You really are the cutest creature."
Her smile got wider as he cuddled up next to her. She let out a small giggle and reached for her lamp. She pulled the string down which turned off the lamp. She got down into bed while her eyes adjusted to the darkness which had filled the room and pulled the covers over her. She felt Quinn snuggle in nice and close to her. She pulled the covers over his little body too and felt him shiver as the warmth filled his body. She smiled and whispered in his ear. "Goodnight Quinn." She slowly lowered her eyes and swept away to dreamland.
----
Fluttershy looked around where she was. It was dark all around her and she simply could not tell up from down. She moved her four hooves. She was on ground at least. She squeaked out a little, "hello?" With a snap of a whip, a little glow appeared. Fluttershy squinted her eyes to do her best to try to see what it was.
She tried again. "Hello?"
She received no answer again and her heart rate increased when she saw two glowing dots in the middle of the darkness instead of one. They started off as the colour of her lawn but then they slowly started to turn a bright red colour. Fluttershy started to panic as they began to move towards her.
She slowly started to back up. "W-What's going on? Where am I?" The glows didn't answer her and continued coming at her. Tears filled her eyes. She didn't like what was going on. As soon as the first tear escaped her eye she heard a sound. It was a deep and creepy sound.
"Aw."
She stopped and wiped her eyes. "Who s-said that?"
Before she knew it, the darkness lifted a tad. Just enough for her to tell she was in someone's house. It was a dark room with a dark wood finish on the walls and the furniture. A tall grandfather clock stood touching the roof as it ticked away.
"Why would you like to know who this is?"
Fluttershy scanned her eyes around the room for some pony but she couldn't see anyone there. "Please come out."
A light evil sounding chuckle filled the room. Out of the shadows, a figure came out and sat in front of her. Shock filled Fluttershy's body as she recognized who it was. "Quinn!"
Quinn nodded. "Hello dear Fluttershy." To Fluttershy's confusion, his mouth didn't move but yet, she could hear his voice.
"Y-Your mouth." She started. "Isn't moving when you talk."
Quinn smiled at her and a voice followed. "That's because I can't talk. I'm communicating with you through your mind." Following Fluttershy's confused expression he added, "so only you can hear me."
Fluttershy was still a little confused. "But-" Quinn cut her off and rolled his eyes yet keeping his mouth still, muttered, "you ponies aren't very intelligent."
Fluttershy frowned at that comment. "That's mean."
Quinn merely shrugged and did a little bounce on his tail. "I would explain more to you but I believe that it isn't worth it. You ponies simply don't have the brain capacity to comprehend anything I could tell you."
Fluttershy's eyes filled with tears again. She couldn't believe Quinn was speaking so rudely to her.
"Please, could we not waste our time with pointless waterworks?" At Quinn's question, Fluttershy cleared her eyes and tried her best to focus. Quinn smirked. "Very well."
He hopped a bit away from her and hopped onto the nearby desk that was against the wall beside the grandfather clock and looked at her at her eye level. "Your friends are going to die." He started. With that, Fluttershy's warm heart increased its beat. "One by one, they'll be brutally slaughtered. Screaming for mercy, they will. You know what the best part is?" He grinned at the crying Fluttershy before continuing. "There isn't anything you can do to stop it from happening. In fact, you'll be ripped apart with them. I'll make-"
"Stop!" Fluttershy choked out through her tear covered face. She tried to say something else but her stuffed nose stopped her from speaking.
Quinn smirked again. "You know what Fluttershy? I like you. So I'll help you. At eleven o'clock tomorrow night, I'd be on the lookout. You won't like what that hour will contain of."
Fluttershy's eyes were red from crying but she couldn't stop rubbing her puffy eye lids. "Why are you doing this? I t-thought we were f-f-frien..." She trailed off and went into a bawling fit. Quinn just looked at her and hopped back off the desk. "Friends? Oh boy."
He hopped over towards her. "Listen kid, we are friends. As your friend, I am giving you this warning. Listen to it well and take my advice." He cleared his throat before speaking once more. "Keep a close eye on your friends. Don't let them out of your sight."
Fluttershy took a breath and looked at him with her tear stained face. "But how can I watch them all at the same time?"
Quinn disregarded her question. "Eleven o'clock tomorrow night is the time I command you to watch your back. If you don't, say goodbye to your friends and hello to another gravestone in your backyard." At the mention of the word 'grave,' Fluttershy cried even harder. "A-Angel..."
"Yes, Angel." Quinn nodded. "You didn't watch him. You left him and now look where he ended up. Same will happen to your friends...and even you."
Fluttershy felt dizzy like she wanted to pass out. Her body began to sway and her world slowed down completely. She collapsed on the wooden floor when Quinn's voice haunted her ears before she blacked out. "Watch yourself Fluttershy. Or say goodbye to your friends...and yourself...I'll make sure of it."
Fluttershy woke up with a scream and sat up in her bed. Her cold sweat was plastered all over her face. Her heartbeat was amazingly fast and she couldn't stop panting.
She looked around for Quinn but he was still sleeping in the same position he had fell asleep in. She silently sighed in relief. She didn't want to wake him. She got up from her bed slowly and trotted to her bathroom. She slowly shut the door and ran some cold water over her face to wake her up and calm her down as her heart rate didn't slow down one bit. Her wound on her forehead caught her eye. She moved her mane away and noticed that the mark hadn't gone down so she put some cream on it to try to fade it. She sighed to herself as the cold water slowly started to calm her shaken nerves. She stood there and waited for her breathing to slow.
What an awful dream...